When Tammie Mylan took a pregnancy test and found it was positive, she and her husband Richard were over the moon.

Like any expectant parents the pair soon began anticipating their first baby scan, WalesOnline reports.

But when they arrived at the hospital for the 12-week ultrasound on Tammie’s growing bump, they received some devastating news.

The couple were told there was no baby and Tammie was instead suffering from a rare and deadly cancer that mimics the symptoms of pregnancy.

Tammie, who hadn’t felt ill, was shocked when medics at the University Hospital of Wales told here there was no baby and something was wrong.

What they thought was their precious bump was choriocarcinoma, a fast growing life threatening cancer that begins in what would have been the placenta.

Actor Richard Mylan with wife Tammie

Pregnancy hormones are still produced, duping the couple, who met in Scotland seven years ago when both were working on TV drama Waterloo Road.

Talking publicly about the trauma for the first time, Tammie said: “When I had the scan they discovered no baby had grown. I was about three months “pregnant”,” says former television make up artist Tammie.

“Coming up for that first scan I had felt fine but when I turned up it wasn’t fine and they told me something wasn’t right.”

Medics told the shocked couple that Tammie, 29, had choriocarcinoma, a type of persistent trophoblastic, very rare pregnancy-related tumours.

The illness makes the uterus believe there is a pregnancy.

Instead of going for the baby checks Tammie underwent surgery at the University Hospital of Wales before being transferred to Charing Cross Hospital in London, a world leader in treating pregnancy related tumours, so rare it handles just 120 cases a year.

Doctors there saved her life, Tammie says.

Unable to do more surgery they put her through a gruelling course of chemotherapy every two weeks for eight months. Tammie was also treated at Velindre Hospital, nearer the couple’s home in Cardiff.

“I just had to get through it. Richard was a constant support and came with me to all my appointments,” says Tammie, who is originally from Dundee.

The couple, who married three years ago in a fairytale ceremony at Oxwich Bay, with guests including fashion designer and I’m A Celebrity star David Emanuel and actors Julian Lewis-Jones and Steve Meo, had always wanted a family.

Tammie Mylan at her graduation from the University of South Wales

Their happiness at their positive “pregnancy” test in January 2018 turned to determination to fight what turned out to be cancer.

Tammie was one month into her final year of her nursing degree at the University of South Wales, with dreams of having a baby and starting a career as a nurse, when she had the devastating diagnosis in March 2018.

“I tried to focus on getting on with my degree. I couldn’t do my nursing placement so I did my dissertation. That really helped because it gave me focus on something that wasn’t chemotherapy.”

Tammie graduated with a 2:1 from the University of Wales on Friday with Richard and mum and dad Diane and Mark by her side.

She is cancer free but says she must send blood samples to Charing Cross Hospital for life to check it hasn’t returned.

“The consultant said it’s all clear, the blood tests are a double check. I see it as the all clear because there is nothing there anymore, no tumours.”

The couple plan to try for a baby again.

“Having children was just something I always presumed would happen. I could not imagine not doing it.

“It has reduced my chances but doctors say I can have a family. There is a chance I can’t but there is a chance I can so I am focusing on that.

“I don’t really look back, I’m just grateful I am here and I have got my degree. There is light at the end of the tunnel.”

For now Tammie is concentrating on her new job in the accident and emergency department at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend, and putting the horror of 2018 behind her.

In October Tammie and Richard are running the Cardiff Half Marathon together to raise funds for Charing Cross Hosiptal where she was treated.

Writing on her fund raising page Tammie says: "In 2018 I was diagnosed with a rare cancer.

"It became apparent at my first and only ultrasound pregnancy scan.

"The specialist oncology team in Charing Cross Hospital were absolutely fantastic! They saved my life and continue to monitor me and many others for life. "